BMW 1990 E34 525i given to me
BMW 1990 E34 525i given to me
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kdri155

Original Poster:

644 posts

180 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
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A few days ago whilst working (taxi driver) I picked up an old chap and was chatting to him about cars as you do, anyway he has a 1990 E34 525i auto se he had owned from new but gave up driving a couple of years ago due to poor health. The car had been sat on his drive unused for 3 years other than being started now and then so we arrive at his address and I see the car resplendent in plum red, BBS style alloys etc.

Now I've been looking for an old Merc, Bmw or Volvo as a running project and for towing our caravan for a few months so I had a look over the car it's appears structurally sound, a little laquer peel on the boot lid, both front tyres flat, paintwork flat but unmarked with no dents or damage. I asked the chap would he consider selling and almost instantly he says I can have the car for free if I can get it running and back on the road but promise to show him when it's roadworthy again, the deal was agreed he gave me the V5 and all the service history up to the point he parked it up.

I'm handy with a spanner so it should be fun, I know it will more than likely need a few new bushes in places, brakes needing attention, new tyres, engine service and an mot but all in it will be a nice usable possible future classic. I've just got to wait until weekend to get it home.

As a side note my wife and I agreed to donate a sum similar to the scrap value to a charity of his choice on the phone and he accepted that as payment in token as he didn't need the money personally.

Pictures will follow!

Benbay001

5,888 posts

186 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
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Thats a lovely story. I hope you get it fixed up!

DS3R

13,248 posts

195 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
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Fantastic story, sounds like a great car and awesome to have saved it!

0a

24,133 posts

223 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
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The 525 is a lovely 'balanced' car, just a nice combination of a good car and a good engine. Let's see those photos and see the car back on the road please!

deltashad

6,731 posts

226 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
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Lucky guy, my father had one the same year in a flat blue colour. One of the nicest looking saloons ever built.

delboy735

1,656 posts

231 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
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I had a '90 E34 525i auto, killed it at 275000 miles !! Still miss it really.epic comfort, nice noise, and simple to work on. Hope it turns out to be a great car for you.

Barchettaman

7,250 posts

161 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
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Great stuff. Do the old chap - and the car - justice!

95 fiesta si

1,600 posts

181 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
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Did you charge him the cab fair lol ?

deltashad

6,731 posts

226 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
quotequote all
95 fiesta si said:
Did you charge him the cab fair lol ?
excellent!

Emeye

9,781 posts

252 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
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I've had a couple of E34 525is, love 'em.

Does it have metric tyres? If so I have a set of alloys with a full set of reasonable Dunlop metric pissing my dad off in his garage!

kdri155

Original Poster:

644 posts

180 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
quotequote all
95 fiesta si said:
Did you charge him the cab fair lol ?
That made me smile, no actually I didn't, I actually spent over an hour with him and his wife chatting.

Leins

10,412 posts

177 months

Wednesday 30th April 2014
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That's excellent, well done! Hope you enjoy your E34

BorkFactor

7,278 posts

187 months

Wednesday 30th April 2014
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Brilliant story!

Looking forward to the updates on this one smile

95 fiesta si

1,600 posts

181 months

Wednesday 30th April 2014
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get some pics up. What's your plans for it, getting it up and running and a little restoration ?

Chunkychucky

6,094 posts

198 months

Wednesday 30th April 2014
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Heart warming, look forward to seeing pictures of your progress!

LeoZwalf

2,802 posts

259 months

Wednesday 30th April 2014
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A good story so far. Looking forward to seeing photos of it and the restoration work, will you keep in touch with the gentleman so he can see his old car back on the road?

kdri155

Original Poster:

644 posts

180 months

Wednesday 30th April 2014
quotequote all
95 fiesta si said:
get some pics up. What's your plans for it, getting it up and running and a little restoration ?
The plan is to get it roadworthy and use it as our regular vehicle and give it a light rolling restoration.

seismic22

662 posts

198 months

Wednesday 30th April 2014
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"This thread is worthless without pictures!!!" wink

kdri155

Original Poster:

644 posts

180 months

Thursday 29th May 2014
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I thought I would update this thread.

Well the BMW didn't turn out to be as sound as my initial inspection suggested, it did drive well took it for an mot before spending any money on service items and failed badly, basically it needed welding to both full inner and outer sills, both inner rear wheel arches, both rear suspension mounting points corroded, all brake pipes corroded, front brake hoses split plus numerous little things such as windscreen washers, couple of bulbs.

I'm handy with a toolkit but can't weld and a quote for the welding work was a little excessive at £800.00-£1000.00 it really did need a lot of new steel. I broke the car at home and sold the engine and box, interior, wheels, various switches and weighed in the rest.

As I still needed a car I purchased this little item;






It's a V70 T5 Auto, 1 owner from new came with history and original purchase documents, it needed the cat repairing and a couple of tyres, has all the toys and everything works just as it should....and I should add that it does indeed go a bit quick.

MarvGTI

427 posts

154 months

Thursday 29th May 2014
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Too bad for the BMW, but what a cool turnout!

Also looks the nutz in red with the beige interior.